In the Jalisco highlands the year began with the unapplauded gift of a bipolar attack: near freezing nighttime/early morning weather coupled with warm daytime temperatures.

For many folks living in pueblos and cities it meant “colds”: coughs, runny noses, sore throats and heaving chests. The highlands, providing heart fluttering views, also presented day-long chilly living.

For veteran ranchers and full-time Mexican campesinos, it meant dealing with cranky livestock, aching joints and short supplies of pain-free stamina. Something as simple as putting a halter on the calmest cayuse in the herd can be a teeth-gritting contest. Hard-used hand joints will “sting” on such early mornings. Fighting the halter or bridle by slinging you against the corral fence is normal for some mounts on such mornings. And it sure tends to delay things a bit. Especially when bridling and saddling abruptly ‘touchy” mounts. Getting slammed into corral fencing a couple of times each morning gets you awake amazingly fast. And if you weren’t stiff before, you got there fast.

Throwing a full outfit on such a once-friendly, now truculent, mount (catch rope, bridle, saddle blanket and saddle, cinch, rear cinch, etc.) will show you quickly,x exactly where all your past broken bones and pulled and sprained ligaments have been hiding out.